Believe Part 3 – And they soared.

Over the last two weeks I have discussed the need to believe in yourself and your company. I had planned on wrapping up the topic this week but its funny how life will provide fuel for what’s on your mind. I am going to delay the wrap up and continue with the concept of believe.

Last week, I was vacationing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with my husband. As with many vacations, we had a list of “touristy” places to visit – some of which we were excited about, such as climbing the Hatteras lighthouse, and some of which seem to be more of an obligatory activity simply because we were there. This was the case of visiting the Wright Brothers memorial. After all, as avid travelers we really felt we should pay homage to the men who were the first to fly under their own power but the visit was more of a “should do” than a “must do.”

Without much thought or excitement, we pulled into the memorial and paid our admission. Heading first to the visitor’s center, we could clearly see an open, grassy area that had various granite stones. As we toured the visitor’s center there were numerous portraits of the firsts. The first female to fly, the first man to break the sound barrier – there were countless portraits of men and women who took those first steps. Okay, at this point our spines were tingling a bit and the awe we felt was starting to grow. These were people who believed in their dream and followed that belief!

Next we saw the timeline of the years the Wright Brothers spent working towards their dream. Years! It didn’t happen for them overnight. It didn’t come easy – they reached small milestones bit by bit. They sacrificed and suffered all because they believed in their goal. Don and I didn’t realize that they had isolated themselves in the Outer Banks. At the time, the Outer Banks weren’t filled with beautiful beach houses and restaurants. It was a rustic and tough existence. The brothers lived in a small cabin and faced scarce company and food supplies. Personally, Don and I always thought they just kind of showed up at Kitty Hawk and flew a plane, but that wasn’t the case. They had to build an engine, build their own wind tunnel, build a propeller, build a steering mechanism, build a launch mechanism, build a hanger, build a cabin and so on. They even borrowed a sewing machine to sew the muslin used as wings on the plane!!! There weren’t any blueprints. No internet to provide research. It was only their all consuming passion to reach the goal which they so strongly believed in. With so many odds against them, why did they leave their bicycle shop??? They believed. The bicycle shop was merely an ends to the means. It provided a foundation for them to fly. By this point in our visit, we were completely hooked. I whispered to Don, “Are you as moved as I am?” and he was. But it was only the beginning

As we moved outside, we realized what those various granite stones were for – they marked the landings of not only the first flight but also the second, third and fourth! They didn’t stop after the first, they believed that they could do better and they did. Each landing site was further than the previous, with the final attempt lasting 59 seconds. It seems like such a short time span to us but for them, on that day, it must have seemed like forever. The Wright Brothers kept pushing because they believed. And in return, they did more than just fly. They soared!

Can you imagine the glorious feelings on that December day? After all the countless details, failures and struggles, they soared. As we were taking in this realization, I came across a plaque at their takeoff point. It quotes a passage written by Orville to his sister Katharine in 1901, which was two years before the first successful flight. It reads: “Our first experiments were rather disappointing. The machine…at times seems to be entirely beyond control.” Wow – how many times do we as business people undertake endeavors that seem totally out of control? Yet we do it because we believe there can be a better way. To achieve success in our initiatives, we need to rely on our intuition to believe. Without believing, you are grounded.

The next part of the plaque was even more inspiring to me. It reads, “The 1901 experiments at Kill Devil Hills were considered to be a failure. Orville later recalled Wilbur, on the trip back home to Dayton, stating in frustration, “Not within a thousand years would man ever fly.” Now most, if not all of us, experience doubts in life and clearly this was a moment of doubt for Wilbur. Imagine what the end result would be if they hadn’t continued? Man was destined to fly. If it wasn’t the Wright Brothers, then it would have been someone else. If it was someone else, everything the Wright Brothers went through, all of their efforts leading up to that point would have been lost. Their beliefs that man could fly guided them passed their own doubts and they soared.

Throughout our time at the memorial, we kept coming back to the irony that I had been writing about the power of believing. Here was actual proof that it really works! It’s only natural to have doubts but we do have the power to overcome them. We can soar above those seemingly impossible problems that face us as we walk through the doors of our businesses. It may take creativity, ingenuity or just pushing beyond the limits we have set for ourselves – but I am even more convinced now that we can get off the ground if we believe. We can soar!

As always, thank you for believing in me. Let’s find our personal successes together!

For more information about the Wright Brothers memorial, please check out this link:

http://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm

Believe - part 2

Thanks to everyone who contacted me about my first blog! It’s a wonderful feeling when people believe in you and I hope it is one that you experience on a regular basis.

Last week I focused on the concept that we have to believe. I want to take that further and discuss an incident which prompted those thoughts. I was giving a presentation about a tough topic and fielded a comment from the group that was so negatively focused that it really shocked me. I was illustrating the need for a different approach to an issue and an audience member stated, “I don’t know what is wrong with people. Everything we try doesn’t work. Why should we bother?”

Hmmm…where to begin with this one! The audience member truly believed the organization has done everything they could and the intended targets were to blame for missing the message. Except what has been done was very narrowly focused and without much strategic planning. It was also done without really trying to understand what the people actually wanted. How can you blame someone for missing your message without considering that the message might actually be causing the problems?! In this situation, the negative beliefs had taken hold and the broader picture was completely gone. Clearly the audience member lost faith in the organization and its audience. He refused to believe that any effort was a good effort and instead thought that whatever the organization tried was a waste of time. The room seemed to go quiet for an eternity, though it probably was just a mere moment. The effect of his statement dampened the fire of a great discussion. Openness and progress came to a standstill.

Rather than feed the flames of his negativity, I managed to move on but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had stumbled on something. He wasn’t being malicious; he was speaking from his own reality. Upon reflection I realized this brief exchange was enough to understand that even if it is not our intent, we can have a very adverse effect on progress when we don’t believe. The weight of one negative comment can crush many positive thoughts into oblivion. Believing creates energy which begets action. Not believing invites apathy and ultimately negativity.

When we don’t believe that a different outcome is possible we lose the roadmap to change. So, the million dollar question becomes, “how to turn it around?” How do I convince that person from my presentation to believe that sometimes even the underdogs win and tough topics might have solutions? Admittedly this was an “underdog” topic and success will be hard to obtain but I don’t believe that we should just give up before we even start. If you do, then why even take to the playing field. You have already admitted defeat. How many of you have had thoughts or ideas completely shattered by those who refuse to believe that there can be a different way?

There are many different leadership theories as well as change management theories that apply, and I will get into some of them as this blog progresses, but for now I want to focus on sharing personal business experiences. Personal experiences build rapport and help set the tone for delving deeper. So, please reply to this post. Share a story of how someone who didn’t believe became swept away negativity. How did you handle it? Do you have a new perspective on the experience?

As always, thank you for believing in me. Let’s find our personal successes together!

Believe - part 1

Success in business, success in life – our definitions may be different but most of us strive for our personal version of success. It gets us out of bed in the morning and guides us through our days. Day in and day out we follow our routines and strive for our successes but is there something holding us back? Something that is so apparent and, dare I say, basic that we don’t even recognize the hold it has on us? I say there is and that something is the belief we have in ourselves, our abilities and our businesses.

Just like the trinkets in the card stores that show angels with the message of “believe,” in business we need to remind ourselves to believe. Believe in our company. Believe in our products. Believe in our abilities. I’d like you to think of the person you consider to be a success and then imagine how far they would have gotten if they didn’t believe. Think about an underdog sports team. The pundits announce with a sort of glee that they have no chance to win. So why do they even take the field? They believe there is a chance to win. No matter how small, the chance exists and they take it. And, sometimes they actually win.

As an owner, executive, supervisor, or employee can your business really succeed if you don’t believe that it will? Worse yet, what happens if you become the negative force that keeps someone else from believing? If a business owner says “we can’t compete” won’t the employees believe that? How far will that get any of them? This circle of negativity takes root and grows. It inhibits progress, saps our energy and many of us are not even aware it exists!

This is certainly an area that I have a strong personal attachment to because I didn’t believe in myself and it held me back for far too long. For years and years, I always talked about going back to school to get my MBA. My undergraduate work wasn’t in business and I felt it always held me back. I would bemoan that I wouldn’t be accepted into a graduate program or that I certainly wouldn’t be able to handle the math courses. The funny thing is, for most of this time I was working in a direct marketing company managing the marketing communications team. Most of my work was statistical analysis! I was a perfect MBA candidate and yet I refused to believe it.

Over time, I finally came to the conclusion that I really needed and wanted to try for the MBA. The excitement of being accepted into a program quickly turned into fear and dread of the financial and statistical courses. After receiving “A’s” in my first few course, I still refused to believe that I could handle the dreaded classes that I had yet to take. How was I ever going to pass them? The dread overshadowed my successes. The time came for the financial courses and to my surprise I easily kept my 4.0 average! Instead of rejoicing, I continued to focus on the dread. Qualitative Analysis was still lurking out there – how was I ever going to pass it?! I was certain that I was doomed. Gradually, the program progressed and I had three classes to go. It was time to face the music.

I barely slept the night before the class started. The next morning I anxiously logged on to pull the syllabus. Ok. Didn’t seem so bad but I was still sure the other shoe would drop. I refused to believe that I could manage this. Week 1 passed and hey – I aced all the assignments but I wouldn’t allow myself to enjoy the success. The weeks flew by and to my udder dismay – I loved the work! The experiences I had from my direct marketing past provided and excellent foundation for my coursework. I finally could believe that I could and would earn my MBA. And, I did with a perfect score. 100% in Qualitative Analysis! Something which the professor thought had never been accomplished before. I couldn’t believe it!

“I couldn’t believe it.” How many times have we said that to ourselves? I couldn’t believe I made that sale. I couldn’t believe my boss liked my presentation. I couldn’t believe….how many times have we held ourselves back by saying those words? Personally, I am done saying those words. I believe that I can make a difference and this blog is my way to start.

In the coming weeks and months and even years, I want to talk about making businesses better. From change management to customer service to marketing to strategic planning, I believe that I can make a difference in your company. I am asking you to believe in me. Start by posting a response to this entry and share a story about how believing or not believing has affected you. Send me an email with topic ideas you would like me to explore. Let’s break the negative hold and believe that we can help each other find our successes!